


All Hallow's Eve

by ArkaneAssassin



Series: Moments of a Life [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27308551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArkaneAssassin/pseuds/ArkaneAssassin
Summary: He thought the bad Halloween dreams were done years ago. But recent decisions brought them back again for Harry Potter
Relationships: Pansy Parkinson/Harry Potter
Series: Moments of a Life [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/928539
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	All Hallow's Eve

**_The Potter Household, 2007_ **

_“Pansy,” Harry called out into the hallway of his home, searching for his girlfriend. He tried to hear for any clue as to her location over the sound of thunder coming through the windows as he moved along. It was strange he thought, how the hallway seemed far longer than usual. As he reached the end he saw a small amount of light creeping out of the room that had been converted into her office, a silhouette of someone briefly flashing out onto the wall as lightning crashed down outside._

_Pushing open the door fully he found the unusual proportions to his home was true for the office as well, as the now cavernous room saw a lone figure hunched over, clacking away at a typewriter, illuminated by a single lamp. Harry made to move towards the figure only to stop when he heard the crunching sound of his feet walking over what he found were papers strewn over the floor, looking down to see his face plastered over them._

**_Harry Potter, Who Believes Him?_ **

**_Second Potter Divorce Rages On, Parkinson Alleges Mistreatment_ **

**_Just What Does Potter’s Latest Victim Stand to Gain?_ **

_“Do you like my work,” a sharp acidic voice taunted him as he read the headlines on the pages in front of him._

_“What is this,” he asked, confused as to what was happening, he looked up to see the figure turn to face him, a barely-visible cruel smirk on the woman’s face beneath a vicious glare of blue eyes._

_“My finest work yet,” she taunted before she flicked her wand and Harry found himself falling through the papers, continuing ever downwards until suddenly the ground came rushing at him._

Harry jumped awake, sweat pouring off him as he tried to regain his bearings from the nightmare he’d woken from. Struggling out of the duvet he searched for his glasses before he stumbled into the bathroom and held himself up against the basin. He wiped the misted mirror in front of him to see the dark splodges around his eyes that confirmed his poor night of sleep along with his hair unusually flattened from the clear sheen of sweat visible across his head and neck. Wanting to wake himself up as well as wipe the clammy feeling liquid from his face he turned the tap and ready to bend over the basin only to be sharply informed of just why the mirror was misty in the first place.

“Potter, you utter bastard,” Pansy screamed with unusual fury as he heard her stumble back away from a shower that clearly had taken an extreme turn towards boiling when her stormy face popped around the curtain to rather politely inform him of that fact with a sharp, “are you trying to fucking burn me!”

“Sorry,” he offered embarrassed as he rushed to turn off the tap as he heard Pansy clamber out of the bathtub before turning around to find that she was clearly still too pissed off to care about putting a towel on as she stood there in the nude with scowl still on her face which left Harry unsure as to whether he had actually woken up that morning. The slap that followed seconds after cleared up that confusion though.

“Well, what have you got to say for yourself,” she threw out slightly calmer but still clearly far from “good morning” territory, arms now crossed over her chest which gave her a rather Hermione-like appearance at that precise moment of time, though if he aired that thought he was pretty sure that’d result in another slap.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise you were in there,” was all he instead managed to offer with a scratch of the back of his head and avoiding her gaze by looking down and away. That led to more problems though given the current look she was going for.

“How about you stop ogling my breasts and give me an actual answer,” Pansy spoke rather dryly, the earliest semblance of a smirk at the corners of her mouth now present when he looked back up.

“That’s the answer though, I think I’m just a bit out of it this morning,” he spoke with sincerity that seemed to soothe her demeanour somewhat as she took a step closer, reaching to touch his hair after her eyes narrowed while examining it.

“Unpleasant dreams I take it?”

“Yeah, something like that,” he released, not wanting to tell her exactly what he could remember. He felt the hand on his head run down to his neck and rub at his cheek while Pansy gave him a more understanding look.

“I guess I can look past your poorly thought out murder attempt this time,” she joked before moving the arm still at her side to join the other around his neck before pulling herself against him and planting a soft, languid kiss against his lips.

“You’re still naked you know,” he teased after the kiss broke as his hands held her hips.

“Yep.”

“And very wet.”

“Clear your dirty mind Harry.”

“I mean as in you’re soaking my clothes,” he drawled as he felt the now cold water seeping through his top and bottoms. Smiling she unentangled her arms and reached for a towel to wrap herself in before walking to the door.

“Well don’t take too long, you know all three of us are meant to be going into Diagon today,” Pansy reminded him before looking disappointed at his face that indicated what he was going to say before he could, “fine, but you’re explaining it to him.”

“Ok,” he offered before stripping off and stepping into the bath, turning on the shower to enjoy the harsh warmth of the spray before shouting as it became ice-cold momentarily.

“See, it’s not nice is it,” his girlfriend cackled from just outside the curtain before leaving him to his shower. Harry tried to relax as the water washed over him but all he could think about was what to tell James. He knew it wasn’t fair to step out on their day trip so suddenly but he also knew he was probably going to be a grouch all day at this rate and ruin it that way. For now he just focused on cleaning the grime from his skin as he tried to put the night’s events behind him, the dream not being the first to feature such subconscious thoughts attempting to undermine his increasingly permanent relationship with Pansy. Especially with the more conscious thoughts and feelings he was having recently regarding where he wanted to take it.

By the time he dressed and headed downstairs he could hear happier voices than the one in his head, entering the dining room to find Pansy and James sat side by side, Pansy wearing a smile on her face as she no doubt struggled to keep track of James’ manic conversational habits, “it’s so cool in there, all the bangs and whizzes!”

“What’s this I’m hearing,” Harry asked, catching the attention of the crumb-covered face of James.

“Uncle George and Ron’s shop of course,” he exclaimed as though it was obvious, “it’s brill.”

“Not if you’re on the receiving end of it,” Pansy teased as Harry walked through to the kitchen, picking up the plate of toast and mug of coffee left out for him, “I still reminder the trouble George and his brother would get up to all the time with the latest annoyance they invented.”

“They weren’t that bad Pans,” Harry laughed as he sat opposite the pair, causing Pansy to rest her head on her hands and stare right at him with a dangerous smirk.

“Really? So you approved of selling love potions to underage children,” she put forward, placing him in an uncomfortable position.

“Ok, maybe that wasn’t their finest hour. Admittedly they were rather weak, they caused little more than a few hours mild infatuation,” he half-heartedly defended, knowing how much trouble they’d caused Ron in particular that one time.

“Says the man. Believe me there weren’t many rich heiresses eating or drinking anything they didn’t obtain themselves for quite a while during that time,” Pansy rather pointedly threw at him, Harry holding up his hands in response.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. Should never have argued with you in the first place,” he spoke shaking his head at her, Pansy moving her hand to ruffle James’ hair.

“See James, and that’s why you should learn to listen to the women in your life now. It saves a lot of problems when the man is inevitably wrong.”

“I think that’s just Dad,” James sighed which got a smile from both of the adults as the young people got up to get changed, “when we leaving?”

Pansy gave Harry a direct look as James began to make his way around the table causing him to stop his young son in his tracks, “look James. I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to go with you today,” he started, his heart sinking almost immediately as James’ eyes turned downcast, “but Pansy will still be there and you can have fun with her as I know you do, yeah?”

It didn’t seem to work on the boy as he continued to look deflated at his words, “but you promised,” James whispered in hurt.

“I know,” Harry said as he got off the chair to crouch down in front of James, “I’m really sorry James. I’ll make it up to you.”

The boy looked on the verge of crying as Pansy intervened, placing a hand on his small shoulder as she’d moved to stand behind him, “don’t be sad James. I know your uncles really want to see you. Also you can have the ice cream that he would’ve had from Fortescue’s.”

The bribe seemed to work as the boy wiped his eyes before walking off upstairs to leave the two adults alone as Harry sighed while scratching the back of his head, Pansy airing his thoughts for him, “well that could’ve gone worse. Quite frankly it could’ve gone better as well but at least he didn’t fall apart.”

“Really Pansy?”

“If it’s taking his side or yours in this instance, it’s going to be the handsome young man who wants to be seen on my arm,” she tried to joke in an effort to cheer him up. Sadly it wasn’t working as she moved past him to go back upstairs while he moved back to the table to finish his food.

It couldn’t have been more than five minutes before Pansy came back down, having changed into a rather comfy looking knit sweater as she leant against the wall to put her shoes on, throwing a call for James back up the stairs in the process. He heard her walk around in the hall before disappearing into the lounge and then back across to where he was sitting, “have you seen my keys,” she asked as she gave a scan around, moving into the kitchen to look there as well.

Harry got up to look under the table for the metal objects, “this wouldn’t happen you know if you just put them in the bowl,” he laughed, reaching down as he spied them under one of the chairs.

“Yes well we can’t all be perfect like you can we,” she exclaimed as he heard her walk back behind him and whack him on the rear, smiling when he came back up with his finger held inside the keyring itself, “what would I do without my house elf?”

“Probably starve, I don’t know,” he spoke as he passed the keys to her. Pansy took the opportunity to lean up to him and gave him a kiss, deepening it as her tongue pushed against his lips demanding entrance as his hand came to rest on her hip. As they heard James thumping down the stairs they broke apart.

“You take care of yourself ok,” Pansy asked to which he nodded before she turned and walked over to the young boy in the hallway, “put your coat on Trouble,” she instructed with an exasperated sigh adding a, “now,” as he began to grumble but listened as told.

“Have fun James,” Harry offered, getting little response as he walked out the door with Pansy offering a sympathetic smile as she exited after him. Harry walked over to the window and watched as the pair, hand in hand, walked to the small gate at the front of the garden before apparating away. Leaving him alone in the house Harry took his time clearing up the table, strangely finding the handwashing of dishes therapeutic on the occasion, before he himself grabbed his coat from the hook next to the door and put on his shoes. Locking the door he walked down the same path the others had only recently departed via and apparated to his destination.

Arriving in the small square he slowly walked alongside the old stone walls that marked out the boundaries of his destination until he came to the small rusting iron gate that probably failed to keep anything out, crossing the threshold into the ground muggles and wizards both held sacrosanct. He walked past the stones that marked each plot, many of them long forgotten as they sat tilted in the ground and any inscriptions long since eroded before he came to the simple, elegant monument. Making sure he was alone he sat in front of it and reached towards the small metal pot where flowers would be held, removing the top and reaching into the silt that lay below the little water that remained from recent rains. Digging around he found the small polished black stone and pulled it out. Taking a steadying breath he closed his eyes and turned it three times.

“Hello, my dear Harry,” spoke the woman’s voice that had once been the only one he’d dreamed of hearing.

“Hello Mum,” he responded as he looked at the spectral forms of his parents, the magic of the stone making them look as they would’ve if they had aged with him if they hadn’t been robbed from him. It was strange to think they had spent more of a life with him through these infrequent meetings in the place they were buried than they ever did in life. He knew the risks of using the stone of course, the anecdotal tales of going mad from repeated use, but he’d never found it hard to resist. Maybe it was because he knew there was an “other side” where they would meet one day. So instead he used it to speak to them and others he’d lost, using the ability to have conversations with no expectations or consequences and just… talk. And so he did.

Most of the conversations went how he expected most conversations with parents went at his age with questions about how grandchildren are doing, is he keeping his partner happy, how’s work. All very dull and routine, yet even the ability to have those conversations was amazing to him even now. The only topic of note this time was about the dreams he’d been having.

“It’s natural to have doubts Harry, everyone does. I’m sure you had similar doubts about Ginny,” his mum spoke reassuringly.

“Not any that featured her killing me.”

“Maybe not, but you don’t really think such a thing do you. Would you have stayed with her for so long if that were the case?”

“No. It’s just…”

“Once as a scared, frightened woman she did,” Lily Potter intoned, this fact having been revealed in earlier conversations.

“Yeah. I know people change but it’s just hard to forget completely.”

“No one expects you to Harry.”

“It seems like you’ve already considered what your mum and myself would have to say,” James Potter piped in, “but have you spoken to her about it.”

“I… no,” Harry admitted.

“Maybe try that then,” his dad instructed as all dads did.

“What if it changes things, what if it makes her leave.”

“Then she leaves, and you know it wasn’t meant to be,” Lily soothed, “but that’s not going to happen is it?”

“I hope not,” Harry sighed before noticing how dark it was getting. He checked his phone to see that he’d spent four hours now in the graveyard, enough time for the others to have returned, “I should probably get going.”

“Ok dear. But don’t forget, we’re always here for you. And that we love you,” Lily said as she held the hand on her shoulder, the fact they could touch but he couldn’t the only pain that the stone couldn’t fix.

“I love you too,” he replied before he dropped the stone back into the metal container and closed it up. He brushed the leaves that had fallen across the marker away before turning and leaving the yard, apparating back home to leave just the sound of the wind in the trees to fill the square.

Appearing before his own home again he let himself inside to find that the lights were on but no one was downstairs. He called out into the house but heard no response and finding no one even as he wandered around with the only evidence of the others’ return being their shoes and coats dumped in the hallway. Slowly he crept upstairs to see that James’ door was left slightly ajar, hearing sniffling coming from inside.

“James,” Harry softly called into the room as he pushed the door open, seeing his son curled up on the bed, “James what’s the matter.”

He watched as James just stayed facing away from the door, hearing the mumbled, “it wasn’t my fault.”

Harry stepped into the room and put his hand on his arm, feeling the boy tense away from him, “I’m sure it wasn’t. What happened, where’s Pansy?”

“She’s in your room,” he spoke before finally showing his small face, eyes reddened, “it wasn’t my fault.”

Harry pulled him up to hug him, “it’s ok. Will you be alright here while I go check on her,” he asked, feeling the nod against his shoulder, “you stay here ok?”

Leaving his son’s room with the door open he walked down the landing to open the master bedroom door, “Pansy, you in here,” he asked to get a very muted response to tell him to go away, “look I’m coming in alright.”

He opened the door to find the room as he pretty much left it this morning, the only change being the open wardrobe he guessed was from this morning when Pansy changed. Seeing the ensuite door was closed he knocked gently on it, “Pansy?”

“Go away,” he heard her cry, the tone sounding miserable.

“Pansy, I need to talk to you about James.”

“Just leave me alone Harry,” she said, sounding more desperate this time. He really wasn’t in the mood for it given how he found James so pushed in regardless, hearing the shower curtain snap shut just before he made it through. He walked over to them and slowly eased them apart to see a figure sat curled up in the roomy bathtub, a figure with long red-hair and freckles down what was visible of her arms.

“Pans,” he asked confused causing her angry face, streaks of tears visible running down a freckled face that looked like his ex-wife’s but only with Pansy’s still slightly upturned nose.

“Thanks for respecting my privacy Potter,” she swiped at him, rubbing her eyes with the back of her wrist.

“What happened,” he asked as he clambered into the tub to sit next to her.

“Those fucking Weasley friends of yours thought it’d be funny to have James give me one of their trick sweets. The one that reveals your “Inner Weasley”.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t,” he began but a look from her and his own experience knew it probably was deliberate. More than a year on the Weasleys were still not exactly united in accepting Pansy, Ron in particular still being rather stubborn on the matter. Harry knew it was probably the man in question who in “good fun” passed the sweets to James, “I’ll speak to Ron.”

“Thank you. I’ve probably made James hate me now haven’t I,” she spoke with a humourless laugh. Harry tried to wrap an arm around her to comfort here only for her to distance herself from him, “please, just don’t.”

“Pans, what is it,” he asked, looking into the eyes that had been temporarily turned brown as they flicked around his face.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what’s been bugging you lately,” she offered. He took a breath before that, glad she allowed him to hold her hand as he prepared himself.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where I want us to go as a couple, making a few decisions too. Since then I’ve been having these dreams, nightmares really. They change a little bit but it’s usually the same fears that feature each time.”

“Fears about me,” she questioned, not getting a response from him leaving her to try and work it out, “you still have problems with me for what I said don’t you.”

“No… maybe… I don’t know. It’s hard to express,” he began in a mess before he squeezed her hand, “I know you’re not that person anymore, and I know why you said it back then. It’s more that when I was with Ginny it was meant to be perfect, this person who had always backed me, and it just completely fell apart. So sometimes I just have this fear that because of our past it’s going to happen again.”

“Oh,” was all the reply that Pansy managed as they just sat there for some time, the sound of breathing the only one in the room before she spoke again, “sometimes… sometimes I fear that if you had the chance you’d just get back together with your ex-wife. That I’m just some convenient temporary presence”. Harry turned to her to refute but was stopped with held up hand, “I know you wouldn’t but, like you, that doesn’t stop me sometimes finding myself lying asleep only to be trapped in this nightmare as I watch you happily move back in together and kick me out. This mocking face as you tell me how could I possibly have thought you wanted me.”

“So the worst thing for you right now is me being affectionate to you while you look like Ginny?”

“It’s stupid I know, especially given what I found in your sock drawer,” she admitted causing him to look surprised, “you really need to learn how to hide things better Harry.”

“Guess I do,” he said rubbing his neck, “so how do you want to resolve this?”

“I don’t know, I guess all we can do is talk about it when we fear it.”

“Ok. So… not the best time to get what’s in the sock drawer then,” he asked mostly in jest.

“What do you think Potter,” she smiled.

At that moment a small head popped around the edge of the doorway, a worried expression on his face, “it’s ok James. You can come in,” Harry spoke reassuringly but James still approached slowly.

“I’m sorry Pany,” James spoke softly. Pansy just beckoned him to join them in the tub, the child easily finding space as he crawled up against her.

“It’s ok James, you weren’t to know. I’m sorry for upsetting you,” Pansy spoke softly as she hugged him, “I’m also sorry you didn’t get any ice cream.”

“Can we get takeaway then,” the child asked, seeing an opening to exploit.

“Oh, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask your dad about that,” Pansy smiled as she looked up to Harry also. She really was evil sometimes.

“Fine, I suppose so. You go and decide what you want James and we’ll come after you,” Harry sighed causing James to scurry out of the bath and run out of the room. Harry turned to look at his smirking girlfriend, “you’re terrible you are.”

“And you love me for it.”

“I do. And I’ll always love you regardless of how you look,” he reassured her before getting up and stepping out of the bath himself, turning to pull her up by the hand and out as well. He began to walk out of the room when he heard Pansy call his name.

“After this wears off, when you ask me. Just know it’ll be yes.”


End file.
